“Little Girls” Take Over the World

PRXers have dreamed of the day public radio producers’ audio would go viral. Yesterday it finally happened — listeners around the world have gone crazy for Two Little Girls Explain the Worst Haircut Ever from WNPR/Connecticut Public Radio reporter Jeff Cohen. Jeff interviews his two daughters about a sibling-haircut gone wrong. Take three minutes to listen. We’ll wait.

The piece is an audio equivalent of a cat video. It’s cute, short, funny — and people everywhere are listening (exposing independently produced public radio to many who probably don’t know what that is).

Each day we average 5,000 visitors to prx.org. Yesterday we had over 107,000.

Below is a screenshot of PRX pieces being listened to in real time (taken at 9:15 p.m. 6/28). Usually the left side has various pieces. Yesterday, it was all “Little Girls” and so many simultaneous listens it looks like a nuclear attack (click to see larger).

Find something that will connect with people. Listeners love this piece because the storytellers are good and it makes them think of their own family mishaps (just read the comments on any of the sites).

Short pieces matter on the web. Share your shorter pieces to get attention for your work, and to get stations interested in them and your longer ones for air.

Fill out your contact info on your profile. Make it easy for blogs/news aggregators to get in touch with you.

Congrats, Jeff! And congrats to your daughters for the interview which has connected to people all over:

“I’ve just come home from a very tiring day teaching Secondary School students (UK) … this has cheered me up immensely.. I really can’t stop laughing… Thank you.” –comment on PRX

16 thoughts on ““Little Girls” Take Over the World”

I do believe you have created a viral audio piece here. My sister cut my hair when we were about the same age, my boys did the same thing when they were little.. you know.. “haircutting takes a LOT of concentration!”

I still remember when Michael and I decided to give each other haircuts. We were 5 years old. I had long hair in braids. Michael went first and tried to cut off the first braid. He could only get the scissors in enough to give me a cowlick. Then it was my turn and he sat down and I was ready to start and he cried “no, my mother will kill me.” At this point our mothers came into the room and I was the one who got trouble.

This was soooo cute! What a couple of very smart little girls. They will remember this for the rest of their lives, I’m certain. And God bless mom and dad, for their loving, albeit rather irked, patience. Thanks for sharing, this had me in stitches!!!

Just got through with an awful day of watching my dear spouse receive his first infusion of chemo which follows a mind numbing 3 weeks of surgery, tests, scans and shocking news…when I saw a link for this on a friend’s Facebook post. It made me laugh out loud on a day when I thought that was the last thing I would ever do again. Thank you for reminding me there is sweetness, joy and things to smile about. Thank you for sharing your two precious girls with us.

What a fantastic interview! Reminds me of my two boys (5 and 2). I just posted it to Twitter and FB. You should start a program that is nothing but interviews with kids. It would be brilliant! Perhaps you could get Bill Cosby to host it…

This has been cracking me up for days! In my circle of friends alone, I have more than a few (including my own daughter) who have experimented with the scissors. All with the same disastrous results! You just captured the gamut — from the childish “logic”, our reactions, and those of our little amateur stylists. My favorite end…. about everyone doing something dumb maybe once, or twice, or three times…. or twice. Or, maybe just once…? 🙂

My daughter,age 4, cut off one of her very long ponytails.That cut side looked like Alfalfa. Upon questioning her, my probe was “Why did you do that?”
The response was, “It itched”
Another reason why parents get premature grey hair.
Thank you for bringing back fond memories.